take your answer off the air...

Talker's MagazineThe quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).

The AdvocateNo, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.

Media MattersDocumentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.

Orcinushome of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups

Hominid Views"People, politics, science, and whatnot"
Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.

Jesus' General An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.

Irrational Public Radio "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."

The Moderate VoiceThe voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.

News Hounds Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.

HistoryLinkFun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.

right-wing blogs we like

The Reagan WingHearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.

March 17, 2006

Rabbi daniel lapin falls on hard times...

Fundamentalist Rabbi Daniel Lapin's non-profit Toward Tradition, named as a laundering conduit in the Jack Abramoff influence peddling scandal is having financial difficulties.

The former KTTH talk host's organization has vacated its leased north Mercer Island offices, laid off most of the staff, and is being run- mostly by the good rebbe- and from home.

Don't feel too sorry for him, though, his new work environment isn't exactly Spartan. His manse zestimated at a little over $1 million is in a luxurious neighborhood on the plush south end of the island near Pioneer Park with its old growth, hiking trails and horse paths.

His friend, talk host Michael Medved (KTTH m-f, 12-3p) lives a few blocks away in a comfy cottage valued at some $1.2 million.

Lapin told his audience
on his last KTTH show, that he'd be starting a new talk show in
February on the large Bay Area conservative talker, KSFO on Sunday
afternoons. then on his website, it changed to March. He's still not on
the progam schedule down there and now we're wondering if that is real.

His local show was brokered- that is to say Toward Tradition paid to get him on the air. With all the downsizing, maybe leaving KTTH was just another cutback- the rabbi has dissembled before.

No spellbinding broadcaster, the didactic Lapin has failed in
syndication, and never really had much luck staying long anywhere on
the dial, although he's tried at KVI, KKOL and KTTH. Hard to believe
KSFO would take him if the show weren't paid for- and can TT afford to
indulge him onto the powerful station in the place of the established
David Gold's best-ofs? We'll wait and see.

According to a 2003 IRS filing, Toward Tradition pays Lapin $165,000 a year. We're wondering if it now can afford him?

Lapin sometimes calls his Mercer Island organization a coalition of
Jews and Christians to counter anti religious bigotry and preserve the
social fabric. Sometimes he says it's to fight "secular
fundamentalism." Preserving Judeo-Christian values is high on his list,
but we're wondering where greed, hypocrisy, favor-selling, and all that
dissembling figures into his much ballyhooed values agenda?

Donations slumped after Lapin and his organization became
radioactive after all the many mentions in the national press of his
pals-y relationship with Abramoff; who had been an old friend, a
founder, a two-time Board president of TT before being unceremoniously
dropped after being indicted.

And, he had exchanged some rather embarrassing emails with Lapin.

The funnest ones were when Abramoff asked Lapin to make up an award or
two so Abramoff could get into the private Cosmos Club, inhabited by
Nobel Prize winners and others of an ilk Abramoff wished to be seen
associating with. They settled on "Scholar of Talmudic Studies?" or
some such. Lapin claims it was a joke, but Abramoff, it was revealed in
the investigation, used it in serious applications.

Not so fun were the checks written by gambling entities and other corporations that were washed through Toward Tradition. Lapin claims he was ignorant of the devious way his old friend was using him.

The haughty sounding rabbi with his Afrikaner accent denies that
poverty exists in the U.S.; says Terri Schiavo’s death was
"premeditated murder;" and that Living Wills are suicide notes. Loving
your pets too much, by his lights, is unbiblical; and tattoos, birth
control, piercing, abortions and assisted suicide are immorally
equivalent.

He's a man of national stature in right-wing circles- Frank Rich of the
New York Times calls him "the show rabbi of the Christian right," Newt
Gingrich says he is "my spiritiual guide;" and the KKK's David Duke has
written: "...there are so few honest voices like that of Rabbi Lapin."

He's also co-chair of American Alliance of Jews and Christians, created
with former GOP presidential also-ran Gary Bauer. Its board of advisers
includes Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Watergate conspirator Charles
Colson, Abramoff, and Lapin's longtime friend and fellow radio talker
Michael Medved.

Easy enough- when some of the ultra orthodox jews tell us they are the chosen people, and the rest of us are the equivalent of farm animals - it is no wonder we laugh when guys like Lapin step on their crank.

To Mark & Luke (no pun intended):
Re: "ultra orthodox jews tell us they are the chosen people, and the rest of us are the equivalent of farm animals"

As I suspected Mark, you are a liar and a Jew hater. I defy you (or Luke) to find one reputable quote from any reliable source, of a Jewish leader, Ultra Orthodox or otherwise, who has said or written that they are "the chosen people, and the rest of us are the equivalent of farm animals".

I am more saddened and disgusted by your comments than anything else. Here we are in 2006 and yet the oldest hatred still thrives.

I have to say that I totally disagree with pretty much all of Danny's political leanings... but I worked with him a bunch of times at KVI and he is seriously like the nicest human on the planet. That doesn't mean he's a good radio host, or ethical dude or anything... it's just that if I suffered a blow to the head and decided to convert to Judiasm and have my kid circumsized... He'd the the guy I'd call.

Ohhh Mark, what a revealing use of words (Google the words "Blood Libel").

So YOU hear it "bleed thru" on Michael Medved's show. I guess that is enough evidence for you to make such a slanderous and inciteful statement that Jews see non-Jews as "Farm Animals".

What you "hear" bleeding on the Michael Medved show reveals a lot more about you and your sick prejudices than it does about the Jewish faith or the Jewish people.

Again, I challenge you to bring me "one reputable quote from any reliable source, of a Jewish leader, Ultra Orthodox or otherwise, who has said or written that they are "the chosen people, and the rest of us are the equivalent of farm animals".

Otherwise I will relegate your hate filled comments as a product of the stagnating cesspool of prejudice that serves you in lieu of a brain.

Your difficulty with the truth is evident in just the few postings you made on this topic.

First you write that "Jews tell us they are the chosen people, and the rest of us are the equivalent of farm animals"

When you are asked to back up your comments with some evidence, you say when "listening to Medved, I hear it bleed thru".

So you acknowledge that your first comment was a complete fabrication. You never heard any "ultra orthodox Jews" tell you or anyone anything resembling "they are the chosen people, and the rest of us are the equivalent of farm animals". But that's OK because you can hear it "bleeding" between the lines on the Michael Medved show.

That anyone could make such a dishonest and disgusting comment so flippantly is quite troubling.

mirobeh, read the thread again and you'll see I never said ANYTHING about Jews being "the chosen people, and the rest of us are the equivalent of farm animals." That was Mark. I was refuting the claim.

By the way, my handle is Lukobe, not Luke, and the Luko comes from my last name, Lukoff (I don't really care about my anonymity here). I'm part Jewish myself and don't enjoy being called antisemitic. Just read more carefully before you post, please.

I included you in my diatribe beacuse of your statement that "The ultra-orthodox are saying that because they are extremists and fundamentalists".

Since you supported Mark's premise that "The ultra-orthodox are saying that" (i.e. that non Jews are farm animals), I thought it reasonable to ask you to show me the evidence that they "are saying that" as well.

But if it's any comfort, I reserved all of my choicest vitriol for Mark.

PS: what is your evidence that "The ultra-orthodox are saying that" non Jews are the equivalent of Farm Animals?

No, never heard the phrase till you mentioned it. And from what I gleaned from a quick Googling it has nothing to do with what I said. You seem pretty perturbed by this- is there a shame by you because of it's proximity to the truth?

Are individual Jews incapable of being bad people, or holding racist and "Superiorist" views toward other ethnicites and religions just like individual Christians or Muslims do all the time? Here comes the kneejerk, reactionary P.C. "you're A Jewhater" nonsense form ultra defensive Jews towards Mark's remarks. Bleed through? Mark was being charitable toward Medved. I'm tired of p.c. people in this town tippytoeing around the truth about a religious/ethnic Superiorist like Medved. It's true that Medved usually keeps a fairly snug lid on his " Superiorist " views but several times he's let them out in the full light of day, and it's not a pretty sight. I flat out heard him state at least once (as I posted earlier this week) that Orthodox Jews were given a superior role on this earth by God, but it was there duty and responsibility as recipients of the "Aren't We Special" gift from God, to help and enlighten all the rest of us poor, unwashed bastards on the earth, with their superior wisdom and skills. Sounds really close to "farm animals" to me. On another occaision, the hubris-filled host made a selfserving, smug, insulting little speech on how much better the Jews have done for themselves in America, as compared to the Irish, who he condescended to by portraying them as "lovable underdogs", and a cute, comical little group. Anyone with such an absolutely pathological, insulting superiotiy complex such as Medved's has to basing it in some sort of errant religious belief system such as this. It's just too extreme for it to be anything else.

You are a liar, Michael Medved never made any such comments. But more interestingly it seems that Medved's show is actually some sort of a sophisticated, electronic Rorshach test for Junior Nazi wannabes. You listen to the radio wave equivalent of an inkblot and out comes your innate prejudices.

Who says I was slandering you? My point was simple- if you put yourself on a pedastal (chosen people) don't expect to have too many friends. And like tommy008 said, it comes thru loud and clear with Medved. It is on par with some of these born-again zealots: we are better than everybody else.

haha Michael B. you obviously come form the "when confronted by uncomfortable truths, deny deny deny, and call them liars" school of debate. Both instances I quoted in my last post absolutely happened and I heard them with my own ears. Your hysterical state of denial has no effect on me.

Show me the quote! Where has any Jew of any consequence or importance ever stated that "We are chosen, so we are better". You won't find it, it doesn't exist. Your entire premise is built on a lie. What you have said is a slander to every Jew everywhere. Have you been reading The Protocols of the Elders of Zion again?

PS: Regarding your comment "don't expect to have too many friends". Trust me I feel no sense of loss that I can't count you amongst my friends.

PPS: Until today I thought that classic Jew hatred was mostly a thing of the past in this country, I was wrong.

So Medved is condescending, big deal, lots of people are condescending, what does that have to do with his being Jewish or the assertions being made here that Jews think non-Jews are like farm animals.

no, Michael B. you're not getting away with your own "slander", at least as far as my own views.. I wrote that one particular Jew named Michael Medved(and I would also include his mentor Rabbi Lapin, and the rest of his little "cult", because that's all his group is) regard nonJews as being similar to farm animals. You 'll never hear me or see me in print claiming that "Jews" in general believe this.

We are going around in circles here, but again, SHOW ME THE PROOF. Find me a quote, audio or written, that backs up your wacky assertion that either Medved or Rabbi Lapin regard non Jews as being "similar to farm animals". That you find them
"condescending" is not proof.

As far as Rabbi Lapin goes I say good riddance to a hateful, bad little man. Among other things the "Rabbi" is another "Kennedy hater"(along with LouPate)who once came on his Sunday night program chortling and chuckling with undisguised glee over the death that weekend of the Kennedy nephew who had killed himself in a skiing accident. This is a "cleansing of the gene pool!" he warbled merrily over the man's death.

reread my posts. The proof is there, but you don't want to see it. Yes I am going in circles, with someone who refuses to see, you're right, that's why I'm through posting with you. The words "farm animals" is Mark's and my only slightly hyperbolic interpretation of the spirit of his remarks/beliefs, since of course he would never say those exact words on air. The man is not a fool, despite his many other flaws

If you are asserting that Rabbi Lapin comes across as condescending, than there is no argument here. Rather it is the assertion that this condescending attitude is somehow a product of his faith system to which I take offense.

What is a Jew who is the opposite of an anti-semite? An anti-goyem? Since such people supposedly don't even exist in politically correct America, we don't even really have a term for them. Anyway, in my opinion, after listening to many hours of Medved's show, that is exactly what the man is.In my own humble opinion.

Michael Hood is a Motherfucking hypocritical piece of shit. He is no different than any other political socialist in this country that will use religion, race, sexual orientatation,income level, environmental stance, or demogography in order to create a big spoon that stirs a pot of hatred. He is typical, and representative of a small group of fanatics that have, unfortunately, gained attention of the liberal media here in the U.S. He will go to Hell, along with those who follow him.

Mr. Gutter, they all live on Mercer Island and we stupid people pay for their houses. That is not the point.

I've often emailed Dave that he really sometimes does have a rather dilettantish point of view about some things. But, it is a stretch to accuse him of the kind of mindless verbal abuse that comes from any of the other hosts including liberals and conservatives. Michael Medved included. Ross tries to play it straight.

As you sit in your free Stupid Prices fake leather chair watching the "exploited players" in the NCAA on your free Stupid Prices big screen does your self-righteous arrogant self ever ponder the soldiers dying in this Stupid War because of idiots like you sent them?

FYI: ILUVAMERICA THE GUY WHO SO POETICALLY CALLED ME A MOTHERFUCKER IS REALLY AUDIOSLAVE.
DUDE, WE DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE SO ANGRY! WE JUST THOUGHT YOU WERE ANOTHER ARGUMENTATIVE CONSERVATIVE. DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANYTHING MORE TO OFFER THAN YOUR HATRED FOR LIBERALS? WHY DO YOU THINK YOU MUST OFFER IT UP ANONYMOUSLY? WE'RE LIBERALS, WE WON'T HURT YOU...WE WANT TO FEEL YOUR PAIN, REMEMBER?

Dori- You've worn out your welcome in our (yours and mine) hometown. You started out the cute local boy with the "arrested development", adolescent high school voice. Now you're just a creep. As The Anti-Kiro says, your time on the station is limited. People are on to your game, chubster. Be a man and try to get on the air in Chicago, San Diego or Baltimore, instead of taking the easy, cheap shot "local boy makes good" thing here. Very limited time before you take that "greeter" job at Stupid Prices, Dori.

KVI am 570 KHz Visit the burnt-out husk of one of the seminal right-wing talkers in all the land. Here's where once trilled the reactionary tones of Rush Limbaugh, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Mike Siegel, Peter Weissbach, Floyd Brown, Dinky Donkey, and Bryan Suits.
Now it's Top 40 hits from the '60's & '70's aimed at that diminishing crowd who still remembers them and can still hear.

KTTH am 770 KHzRight wing home of local, and a whole bunch of syndicated righties such as Glennn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larsony, and for an hour a day: live & local David Boze.